Friday Night fun

We had Ryan & Taneisha and Jamie over yesterday. Some of us stayed up until 2, so I slept in this morning until almost 11....can't remember the last time I did that!

Before I put the pictures in, some funny things that David & Timothy said:

"Have sword-fight bullo (brother--i.e., Timothy). He'ss a bad guy! Bullo bad guy! Fight bad guy!"--David

Forrest: "How much do you love me?"
Timothy: "Um...twenty." He pauses, then says, "David loves Mama fourteen."

Okay.

















Ryan thought he looked pretty cool with the du-rag/bandana (whatever you want to call it)...later we let him know David's nose had been wiped on it.





























Timothy was having fun putting pillows and pillowcases on his head...here's Matthew helping him get one on his feet too. Forrest & Jamie laugh about stuff.














Victoria says, "My duck is poopy," and gets a clean diaper ready to put on it.

Noelle snuggled up to Daddy.

It started out with the hat, glasses, and jacket, and this outfit evolved to what you see here. Ryan told Matthew he'd pay him $2 if Matthew went into the video store dressed like that. He made good on it, although Matthew thought it should have been $6 since they ended up going to three stores.

And that was our Friday. Earlier in the day, my wonderful husband put up the frame for our little greenhouse. A few days ago I started tomatoes, peppers, basil, parsley, and some flowers. I got a late start on those first 2--but our growing season should be long enough, especially with the increased warmth and humidity the greenhouse will offer.

Me, an ape?

I don't know whether it's technically legal or not to copy paragraphs from wikipedia, but I'll take a chance...

I was curious if it was incorrect (as I've heard) to refer to chimps as monkeys (and it is--they're apes) and realized that we humans are currently classified by zoologists as great apes! Came across a funny paragraph on the page on apes:

"Human beings are the only ape recognized as persons and protected in law by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights^[11] and by all governments, though to varying degrees. Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans are not classified as persons, which means that where their interests intersect with that of humans they have no legal status."

It's a little crazy and hilarious to me that scientists still believe in evolution as accepted and proven. There's a bit on that page, too, about how many don't accept classification of humans as apes because it was not until a few decades ago that we were thought to have common ancestry.

ALLELUIA!!

"He is alive, He is aLIVE, He IS alive!" said the choir yesterday morning, processing up from the back, going through every row slowly so that they could tell everyone the wonderful news. Carolyn played the piano up front, chords that the choir spoke in rhythm with, and when they got up front to their own rows their speaking turned into singing, a joyful Easter hymn*. It was so moving and exciting. MaryLou's enthusiasm in her "He IS alive!"s, as she went about telling us all and shaking our hands, reminded me a little of Grandma Eyre.
We got to shout and sing our Alleluias Saturday night and Sunday morning, and still we shout it! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! There was a baptism both at the Easter vigil (which was an amazing service) and yesterday morning. Glory to God! Praise the Lord! I can hardly wait until Noelle's baptism--which will be on Pentecost Sunday.
It was so nice to have much of the liturgy sung again yesterday. Throughout Lent we spoke our Psalm, didn't get to sing our "Alleluia!" before the Gospel reading, and spoke our "The Lord be with you, And also with you."
We had a nice breakfast feast at church before the service, and a great feast at my parents' house that afternoon. Actually, we have so many good leftovers that we're still feasting.
And now I can hardly wait until Rick & Rachel & Kyrie arrive! 3 weeks, 2 days! The upstairs room is almost ready for painting, but it'll take a few days because it needs primed first, and will probably take two coats of paint after that. Then I get to set up the room for them. Exciting!!

*(By the way, the word "hymn" is typed all by the right index finger, if you know how to type.)

Pictures of Noelle
I'm actually glad we had to exchange her original dress, because this was our favorite before, but we thought a 9 month size would be too big. Turns out it's not!
Giving up sugar for Lent hasn't necessarily made me holier, but has made me realize what a creature given to fleshly desires I am. I think so much about what to do to please myself, and what will satisfy for the present moment. May God help me become selfless and desiring His kingdom above earthly pleasures.

A Bit Of Both You are 60% Calvin and 40% Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes, like a scruffy yin and yang, are in perfect balance within you. Like Calvin, you're weird, a bit insecure, and can be a trouble-maker. But like Hobbes, you're down to earth and sensitive. It's a risk to say it here, after just a ten question test, but I'll bet you're smarter than most. Both Calvin and Hobbes are crafty, clever characters, and any one made from equal parts of each is a force to be reckoned with.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 69% on calvin You scored higher than 13% on hobbes

Link: The Calvin Or Hobbes Test written by gwendolynbooks on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Funny kids

Overheard...
David, the other morning, got in our bed next to Noelle and kept saying, "Hi, liddo boy! Hi, liddo boy!" (I kept trying to correct him...there have been plenty of times he's called her a girl, you'd think he'd know.)
Timothy, in the van: "I saw two buses! There were two buses...but, just one at a time...and then three at a time, and there were buses three at a time, and...." He kept going on along this strain until he found something else to talk about. He's a chatterbox.
And Noelle just says, "ggglll." But she's by far the prettiest.

My Nohari window--tell me what my negative qualities are! I know, not a very nice thing, to put you on the spot, but really, I'm interested in your honest opinion.

Six Weeks

Noelle is six weeks old today; she had her 6-week check-up yesterday (our final appointment with our midwife, whom we probably won't get to use with our next baby since she's moving to the coast.) So, the stats are: Noelle is 25 inches long now, and 12 lbs, 3 oz. She's such a big girl! We got her size 2 infant sandals today, which fit her, plus a couple of cute shirt/pant outfits, with gift cards we had gotten from the baby shower. She was really good and quiet almost the whole time we were shopping.
It's getting late and Forrest has to get up early, so I'm going to end this post now.

This template is weird...

It's funny, I don't know why, but now my "family" links are bulleted. This happened after I added html to my template for a picture of me (the one that's in my profile). I also think it's a little bit funny that the picture shows up in the top part next to my profile, because I thought I added it into the template below where it said "sidebar". Heh. Who knows. I don't know that much about html, and here I am playing around with it, so I suppose I shouldn't expect everything to be predictable.

Sickies

It's been almost two weeks since I came down with this cold. That's actually not any longer than colds normally last for me; it's just been such a bad one, keeping me feeling like I'm at the lowest point, for a whole week. I think finally it's sloooowwwwlllyyy abating. David still has nose stuff, and Timothy's got it in his nose and his eyes still. Noelle still has a bit too, poor girl. She's the one I'm most concerned about...as long as we stay at home and take it easy, I think she'll be just fine, but if the rest of us get better before she does, I'll still not want to go out shopping or anything, so that she doesn't get complications. Forrest has had a sore throat--I pray he doesn't get as sick as the boys and I got! He doesn't seem to get things as bad as I do.

And while I wait for us to recover, I'm thinking about the things I'll do when we are better.

• I want to try to get the storage boxes to fit in our storage closet (so they won't be in R&R's summer bedroom),
• have Forrest take one or both of the recliners out of there too, and possibly the stereo,
• paint in there,
• paint the boys' room,
• get my garden going,
• and (probably first of all,) buy Easter clothes for all of us!

The Easter clothes shopping is what I'm most looking forward to--and also spending a Macy's gift card we got for Noelle at her baby shower. I like clothes shopping, whether for myself or for the kids. Actually, it's more fun to do for the kids because it's easier to find nice things that fit. Sometimes I'm too picky when it comes to my own clothes, which makes it harder to settle on anything. Besides, adult sizes cost so much more!

It's interesting having three kids. Right now it seems difficult, mostly because I'll have situations with the boys, that require my intervention, and Noelle really needing me at the same time. Sometimes I have to ignore one child, or two children, for a minute, to take care of the other one. And new challenges to my authority have been happening with the boys since Noelle was born.

Having said all that, this is the only job I want to have, and I love it. I love being the one that the rest of my family needs to take care of them--make them food, wash their clothes, tend to their hurts, keep a nice home for them.